THE STONECUTTER

A Japanese Folk Tale

A stonecutter's insatiable quest for power is a theme well suited to McDermott's aggressive, highly stylized designs, and the Japanese origin of this version of the "Fisherman and his Wife" idea is acknowledged in the traditional printmaking motifs and architectural forms that are incorporated in his brilliantly colored semi-abstract displays. The pomp of a princely procession, which stirs the envy of a previously contented stonecutter, provides just the occasion for splurge and spectacle that sets off this artist, and later when the stonecutter has himself successively transformed into the sun, a cloud, and a mountain -- each form chosen because it is somehow stronger than the last -- the elemental forces assert themselves in a series of strong, increasingly ominous scenes that are characterized by a sort of static violence. Another striking performance.